Solved On the fence about installing Win 8 Preview...

tomlinsonj

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Ocala, FL
New to the forums here so pardon if this has been answered already.

I have a Win 7 64 bit upgrade for my XP machine on the way from my wife's employer (she's an educator and it takes up to a month for the disc to arrive, don't ask me why, lol). While waiting for the Win 7 upgrade to arrive, I'm interested in trying out Win 8. I understand that the HDD will have to be wiped for the Win 8 install (ditto for Win 7). Here's the question - if I install Win 8, play around in it for a few weeks and then go back to install the Win 7 upgrade will it still be able to detect that a valid copy of Windows existed on the machine? I don't want to jeopardize my upgrade path from XP to Win 7 by erasing the proof that I have a valid Windows install buy putting Win 8 on there in the interim.

Thanks!
James
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win XP
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    E8400 Core2Duo 3ghz
    Motherboard
    Foxconn
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800 mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI 6570
    Monitor(s) Displays
    20" Samsung
    Hard Drives
    320 GB 7200 rpm
    PSU
    300W Bestec
    Internet Speed
    10 mps

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Thanks for the link Brink (I imagine people type that a lot here). I'll read up on the tutorial. I was just nervous about overwriting proof of a valid Windows install and turning my (yet to arrive) Win 7 upgrade disc into a coaster.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win XP
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    E8400 Core2Duo 3ghz
    Motherboard
    Foxconn
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800 mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI 6570
    Monitor(s) Displays
    20" Samsung
    Hard Drives
    320 GB 7200 rpm
    PSU
    300W Bestec
    Internet Speed
    10 mps
You're most welcome. I can certainly understand that. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
If possible, I'd remove the perfectly working drive from the machine and use a spare or second hand drive to do the playing around on. Then you can just pop the original drive back in and be 100% back to normal in just a minute or two...

In fact when your Win7 disk arrives I'd do the same thing (But use a new or trustworthy drive). Upgrading an older machine with XP on it to Win 7 is not without potential problems. Always a nice feeling to have something to go back too if something goes very wrong :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7/8
If possible, I'd remove the perfectly working drive from the machine and use a spare or second hand drive to do the playing around on. Then you can just pop the original drive back in and be 100% back to normal in just a minute or two...

That would be great, but I don't have a spare SATA drive. My current desktop machine uses IDE. This other XP machine I'm referencing to install the Win 8 and Win 7 upgrade on is going to be my primary machine. It's a hand-me-down from my Mom that doesn't have anything on it I'd want to keep. I already have removed all of her personal files and sent them to her. I also added some memory and am waiting to put the MSI 6570 video card in it until after the OS upgrades. Thanks for the heads up though!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win XP
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 530
    CPU
    E8400 Core2Duo 3ghz
    Motherboard
    Foxconn
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800 mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI 6570
    Monitor(s) Displays
    20" Samsung
    Hard Drives
    320 GB 7200 rpm
    PSU
    300W Bestec
    Internet Speed
    10 mps
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